Confidentiality over NC mapmaker’s files extended 1 month

RALEIGH, N.C. – A North Carolina judge has given himself more time to decide whether more computer files from a Republican mapmaker can be made public.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Vince Rozier agreed on Tuesday to extend until Oct. 27 a temporary confidentiality order that a three-judge panel previously issued covering nearly all of Thomas Hofeller’s documents . The documents were subpoenaed in a redistricting lawsuit and the order was to expire Friday.

Rozier was named to handle confidentiality questions because the three judges are now scrutinizing state House and Senate districts approved last week . Court filings suggest Hofeller’s files contain other information being sought by several parties. Some documents already surfaced in a federal census case.

Hofeller died last year. Redistricting lawsuit plaintiffs subpoenaed his daughter for the documents.